On Wednesday, the Bombay High Court said that it will hear and determine whether to accept an appeal brought beyond the statutory deadline of 90 days after the rendering of the trial court’s decision against any order or judgment issued under the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Act.
It was deemed a “important issue” by a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Gauri Godse, who also named two senior attorneys, Aabad Ponda and Sharan Jagtiani, to support the court in this matter.
The bench said that it will review the case in two weeks.
When the court was considering appeals submitted by two accused who had been arrested by the NIA in two separate instances, the issue was brought up.
Vinayak Shinde, a fired police officer and suspect in the 2021 murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran and the Antilia bomb fear case, submitted the first appeal. After a 299-day wait, the appeal was finally submitted.
In order to be treated equally with co-accused Naresh Gaur, who received bail from the special NIA court and had it affirmed by the HC, Shinde requested bail.
Shinde appealed to the HC after the special NIA court’s denial of his petition.
Faizal Mirza, who was detained by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for collaborating with Pakistan-based terrorist groups to carry out attacks in Mumbai, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh, submitted the second appeal with a wait of 835 days.
2018 saw the transfer of Mirza’s case to the NIA. The central anti-terror organization claims that Mirza appealed to the HC 835 days after the special NIA court denied his request for release.
The central agency contended that, in accordance with the NIA Act, an appeal submitted more than 90 days late could not be considered by the court and should be rejected.